


Questions and Answers

by holyfudgemonkeys (erraticallyinspired)



Series: Blast From the Past [2]
Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: 5+1 Things, M/M, Misunderstandings, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-08
Updated: 2015-05-08
Packaged: 2018-03-29 13:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3898057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/erraticallyinspired/pseuds/holyfudgemonkeys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Kingsman agents wondered what the hell was going on, and one time Merlin and Eggsy told them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(A request related to my completed time travel fic, Blast From the Past)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Questions and Answers

**Author's Note:**

> This is meant to take place during the second ending but can easily take place during the third. It's basically an outsider's view on the time when Harry is stuck at home up until they close the mission to try and send him back.

1.

Gawain did his job after Bors that night, so, logically, Bors should have gotten back to headquarters before him. When he doesn’t see the man during his debriefing, he just assumes the agent already went home. He doesn’t really know the young man enough to care, honestly. Sure, he knows _of_ him. All of the agents know about Lancelot and Bors and how they, with Merlin (and wasn’t _that_ a reminder that the man wasn’t useless outside of his office) saved the world while they were all under the influence of the bloody SIM cards. Gawain himself only broke a few ribs that day.

So he’s aware of the younger man, but he doesn’t ever think about him, not really. 

 

“Is Bors on a mission?” he says curiously two weeks later. Usually, the agent can be found pestering Merlin or at least sparring with Lancelot, and his absence for so long is… weird.

“A long term mission,” Merlin says, and his voice sounds just as tired as he looks. 

_A dangerous mission, then,_ Gawain thinks. Everyone knows Merlin is particularly protective of their youngest two agents. Not that he kept them off of harder missions, no, he was well aware of how dangerous they were, especially together. It just didn’t stop him from worrying.

He takes the folder of information on his next target and slips out the door.

Except it quickly becomes apparent that Merlin handed him the wrong folder.

“Eggsy?” he hears as he walks back to the room.

“Dr. Scott has been trying to make it work in reverse for decades, Eggsy.”

Gawain turns around, determined to come back later. Whatever it is, it sounds personal, and he’s not going to risk getting scolded like a child for eavesdropping. (Merlin is _terrifying_ when he scolds.)

 

2.

Roxy knows something is up. 

“First Merlin, and now you? What’s going on, Eggsy?” she says, part exasperated, part concerned. Now that Percival was promoted to Arthur, she spends most of her time with her two co-saviors of the world, and it’s all too clear that they’re keeping something from her. Merlin is distracted all the time. Eggsy is twitchy.

He grimaces. “I wish I could tell you, Rox’, but orders.”

“Whose orders?”

“I _really_ wish I could.”

She tilts her head and just looks at him. He really does look frustrated. _Arthur’s, probably_. She forgives him immediately, making a note to bother her sponsor about whatever burden he’s put on her friends’ shoulders. “Will you ever be able to tell me?”

“I think so?”

“I can wait.”

They race around the grounds, and when they both collapse on the grass, smiling, Roxy realizes there’s a lightness to him that wasn’t there months ago.

 

3.

The mission is not going well. It’s not going wrong in a let-my-family-know-I-love-them sort of way, but rather a make-sure-the-infirmary-knows-we’re-coming way. Kay is not a stranger to these situations, not with nearly thirty years of service to Kingsman under his belt. Bors, though, is still very new. And very, very stubborn.

“I think I can do it,” Bors says confidently. 

Kay stares at him. 

“I’m inclined to agree,” Merlin says after a pause. “But if it gets hairy, get out of there. Do you hear me Bors?”

“Oh, it won’t come to that.” The agent smirks.

Kay shakes his head. They’ve been discovered already, and the accounting books they’re supposed to steal are still in the target’s office safe. Behind a team of security that’s aware and waiting for them. In the past, they would have retreated and found another way to get the books.

But they go in. Kay distracts the guards with some small fires (placed and started strategically with Merlin’s help) while Bors is apparently getting ready to crawl through the vents.

“This is nothing,” he says honestly over the comm. “I’ve been in tighter spots before.”

It’s begging for clarification, but Kay takes a breath and stops himself from asking. Bors, he knows, has a very, very different past from the other agents. ( _Perhaps a more useful past_ , he thinks, glancing up at the vent on the wall, _than years of tutoring and cricket._ )

Then there’s a soft click over the comm.

“Bors,” Merlin says. “ _Bors_ , what are you doing? Bors, _can you hear me?_ ” He curses, his accent thick. 

 

Kay hears a muffled voice, familiar but hard to place, followed by more cursing (and what _may_ be a “dammit Harry”, but he ignores it).

“Head to the extraction point, Kay,” Merlin says eventually, frustrated.

“Bors?”

“He’ll be there.”

 

He is, sprinting and laughing as he goes. “Tell Merlin I’m sorry, yeah?” the agent says after coming to a stop.

“Tell _him_ we’re going to have a talk when he gets back,” Merlin says, and Kay wisely brushes his curiosity aside and stays out of the whole thing.

 

4.

Tristan heads out through the tailor’s shop after his mission, his suit not even wrinkled. There’s a satisfied smirk on his face as he nods at the tailor. It’s been a good day - good enough that he thinks about just walking back to his home, about just enjoying the weather. First, though, he needs to replace the lighter grenade he used during the mission. The secret door to dressing room three closes behind him.

One of the youngest agents is lying on the bench with a hand against his ear. _Bors_ , Tristan absently thinks. He goes to the wall of gadgets.

“‘M goin’ on a mission tonight. Won’t be ‘ome for dinner.”

Tristan slips a lighter in his pocket and slips out of the room, not wanting to interrupt.

A wistful “I miss ya, ‘Arry,” follows him out, and like a proper gentleman he keeps moving, heads out of the shop, and walks home, leaving the boy to his grief. (Maybe he’s concerned. Maybe he wonders if the boy is doing just as badly as Percival did in the wake of James’ death. Whatever crosses through his mind during that walk is simply put aside. It just isn’t his place to say anything.)

 

5.

“Make sure you eat something, Bors,” Bedivere says, pushing a plate of steak at the younger agent. 

“I’m fine, but thanks anyway.” Bors has an eyebrow raised, a slight frown on his face. 

The man obviously doesn’t understand what he’s getting at, but it’s not surprising. If only Bedivere could be blunter. Less polite, less of a gentleman. “You’ll need something in your stomach for later.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Bors -”

“If you need to say something, Bedivere, just _say it_.” Bors leans back against the headboard of the hotel bed and crosses his legs.

Perhaps it doesn’t matter with this agent. Bedivere puts his fork and knife down. “Bors, most of us lost someone on V-day. It’s important that we keep carrying on, for their sake.”

Sitting up straight, Bors looks at him curiously. “Who did you lose? If you don’t mind.”

Tristan was one of the few that didn’t lose anyone. It’s why Bedivere is the one bringing up this conversation instead of him - Bedivere did lose someone, does understand Bors’ loss at least to an extent. Where Tristan can’t go, Bedivere can.

“My niece,” Bedivere says neutrally, as if it doesn’t just ache to think of her. (To think of the smile on her face whenever he visited, of the way she looked more and more like his sister everyday, of the silly colorful bracelets she collected.) 

“Yeah?” Bors says and comes over to sit next to him. “You two close?” His accent is slipping in. 

It’s something he’s only ever heard when the young man spoke to Merlin or Lancelot, and Bedivere thinks that _maybe_ he’s getting through to the man. “Very. She was my sister’s only child.”

Bors puts a hand on his shoulder. “I almos’ lost my mum and sis’. If ya wanna talk or anythin’, ‘m ‘ere.”

Bedivere blinks. “Would _you_ like to talk?”

“If _you_ want to, ‘m game.”

Somehow, they don’t say a word about Harry Hart the entire time. Somehow, Bedivere tells Bors all about his niece, his sister, and even his parents, learning about the man’s baby sister and Mum in return.

Somehow _Bedivere_ feels lighter by the end of the mission, despite his initial intention to help Bors.

 

+1.

“Gentlemen,” Merlin says, “glasses on, please.” Only Bors is missing, but Merlin ignores the empty seat. “Last month, I spotted a familiar face through Bors’ feed during his and Gawain’s joint mission.” He taps on his tablet, and a face comes upon the screen.

A knock at the door interrupts him. 

“Can we come in?” Eggsy says, opening the door just enough to peek in. There’s a muffled “May we” behind him, and he laughs as he looks back.

Merlin nods.

The only ones who don’t react are Merlin, Eggsy, Arthur, and Young Harry Hart. 

“I didn’t know Galahad had a son,” Gareth says curiously. 

Harry winces. Roxy leans forward, her mouth parted. Her gaze focuses on Eggsy, and when he looks back, he nods once. It takes a moment, but she smiles at him. 

“Galahad always was a private person,” Gaheris says. “Though I took him for a bachelor.”

No one says it, but the question is there, in the room, and horribly unsubtle - _is he a bastard child?_ Even worse, however, are the gazes directed at Eggsy. With the exception of Roxy, they’re all judging him, judging the lack of distance between him and Harry. They all know that Eggsy was close with his sponsor, but now his ‘son’ too?

Arthur quiets them and motions for Merlin to continue, who nods gratefully.

“Bors followed him. The man on your screens is Dr. Scott. Our last Galahad followed him on a mission in the 80’s in order to steal a device he was developing. We’ve recently discovered that the device was a time machine.” Looking around the room, he dares them to question him with his gaze. “Galahad encountered the device, and when Bors did as well, Galahad came through it - right from the 80’s. We haven’t been able to send him back.”

“It’s been decided to let him resume his position as Galahad, since it has not been filled yet,” Arthur finishes.

Harry smiles at the men around the table. Several of them are familiar faces despite the time that has gone by since he last sat in this conference room. “I’m very glad to be back.” And after a month of being confined to his house, he definitely is.

“How do we know it’s really him?” Gawain says. 

“I’ve run tests,” Merlin replies simply.

Arthur nods. “I’ve verified it as well.”

A moment passes before a chorus of stilted “Welcome back”s fill the room. 

Harry takes his seat. “For the record,” he says smoothly, “I do not have any children, but I am not a bachelor either.” He lets them come to their own conclusions.

(Roxy adjusts to the news the easiest, giving him a warm handshake at the end of the meeting and joining them for dinner. Harry finds her delightful.)

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I was happy to write this, especially because it gave me a chance to do a 5+1 :D


End file.
